Finding the culprit made the planet suddenly turn quickly

The slower movement of a sea current around Antarctica may cause the earth's rotation speed to increase 28 months ago.

The scientific world has been tumultuous after discovering that the earth's rotation speed suddenly increased in November 2009.National Geographic said that scientists from the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) and their colleagues in Europe have been investigating this phenomenon for months. Steven Marcus, a NASA researcher, said that the Earth's rotation speed around the axis in 2009 increased by 0.1 milliseconds within two weeks.

Scientists conclude that the globe may rotate faster because a flow around Antarctica moves more slowly. Marcus used the figure of an ice skater to explain the phenomenon. When a female skater spins around her body and puts her hands on her body, her body will rotate faster to preserve angular momentum.

Picture 1 of Finding the culprit made the planet suddenly turn quickly
Icebergs follow a sea current near Antarctica. (Photo: National Geographic)

"If a sea current moves more slowly, the earth will have to rotate faster to preserve angular momentum , " Marcus said.

Scientists have long known that changing the speed of ocean currents and air currents can change the speed of rotation of the Earth and the length of the day. The effect of air flow is stronger than that of ocean currents, because the air moves much faster.

"But in November 2009, the movement speed of the ocean currents around Antarctica suddenly dropped dramatically. The level of reduction was so great that humans could see by measuring the speed of rotation of the earth , " Marcus comment.

A previous NASA study found that the El Nino weather phenomenon may have caused the ocean currents around Antarctica to move more slowly. In 2009 the water in the central Pacific became warmer due to the impact of El Nino.

"El Nino or La Nina can generate waves in the air. This wave moves to the southern hemisphere and can affect the air currents there. When the air movement speed changes, the currents save will flow faster or slower, " explains Samantha Stevenson, an oceanographer at the University of Hawaii in the US.